Electronic data-entry forms are commonly used to collect information. These electronic forms enable users to enter data and have that data stored digitally, such as in computer-accessible databases. Data so stored can be quickly retrieved, allowing others to use that data.
In some cases, it is useful for electronic data-entry forms to include recursive sections. These sections may permit nested sets of similar information to be entered, each section being governed similarly by a schema governing the electronic form.
Assume, for example, that a user of an electronic form wishes to enter names and email addresses for employees that are within a management hierarchy. To do so, a group of recursive sections may be used, each of which enables the user to enter the needed information for each employee within the hierarchy.
Building recursive sections into an electronic data-entry form, however, can require significant time and computer-programming skill. A person often needs to have extensive training and experience in computer programming before he or she can build recursive sections into an electronic data-entry form. Even with extensive training, this programmer may need many hours to build and maintain these recursive sections.
Further, these recursive sections may be limited by the electronic form. Assume, for example, that the programmer thought that the form's user would need to have up to three levels of hierarchy in a management structure, each having up to five employees, and built the electronic form to reflect the recursive sections accordingly. The electronic form may work for a sales team having one president, two sales managers below the president, and five salesmen below the sales managers. If the form's user, however, needs to enter into the form a sixth salesman or a salesman's assistant (a fourth level of management hierarchy), the form may no longer be capable of handling the management structure needed by the user. In this case, the programmer may have to go back and re-design the electronic form.
Alternatively, a programmer may design an electronic form to enable additional flexibility by permitting a user to add recursive sections to an electronic form; to add these recursive sections, however, a user may need to do so through a potentially confusing and difficult-to-manage hierarchical representation of the electronic form's data structure. In this case, for example, a user may need to view and understand a hierarchical tree representation of the electronic form, select a particular node or hierarchical level of the tree, and insert a representation of a recursive structure at that particular node or level. Not only is this way of adding recursive sections potentially confusing and difficult, it may permit the user to improperly insert the recursive structure. If the user inserts the structure improperly, the altered data structure of the electronic form may be invalid to its governing schema. An electronic form invalid to its schema may be useless.
Given the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a more user-friendly and/or less time-consuming way to build and/or use recursive sections for electronic data-entry forms.